Black Sabbath ex Tony Iommi is building new studio

80s-90s Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin reveals Tony Iommi is building a studio - and they still hope to work together again

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Not stopping: Tony Iommi

Black Sabbath icon Tony Iommi is building himself a new studio, says Tony Martin, who fronted the band in the 80s and 90s – and they’re still hoping to work together again.

It’s more evidence that, despite winding up the band’s career in February as a result of his cancer status, Iommi intends to keep working at some level.

At the time he said: “My illness is the bloody reason why I have backed off from long tours.” He added of his future musical plans: “The only criterion is that it cannot involve being away for seven or eight weeks at a time, unless it’s in one place.”

“Those albums have been deleted for a long time, and I think they could sound better. Especially Forbidden – I hate that. When I listen to it now, I think how I could make it better. If he gives me the chance, I’d love to do that again.”

Martin accepts the charge that Forbidden just didn’t sound like a Black Sabbath album. “I told him that,” says the singer. “It was me, Cozy Powell and Geoff Nicholls. We were saying, ‘This is not Black Sabbath.’

“I understand what they were trying to do, the Run DMC thing, but it didn’t work. I have demos from the rehearsals and it sounded really cool, really hard. I would love to re-record that, and if I got the chance I’d like to rewrite some of the lyrics.”

Martin is working on a solo album and an autobiography. Sabbath’s final show, in Birmingham in February, was filmed for a future release.